[QUOTE=gloamingone;4097096]Took my first dose of Lamictal last night (25 mg), and OMG, do I feel useless this morning! Sooooo groggy and out of it. Is this common? Will it go away? Thanks for any replies!

I started lamez 25 mg in april 2012. Went of increasing it every 10-14 days as adviced. I was 25 yrs then. Have bipolar type 2. At that time i was severely severely severely depressed. Like the worst depression I think could be possible. After starting Lamez, whenever I woke up from sleep I used to have severe bodyache , fatigue (basically psychomotor retardation). I attributed it to my depression. Which probably was true, coz even if I took a short nap in the afternoon I felt extremely fatigued after waking up. Along with that I experienced difficulty in concentrating and memory loss. At that time I attributed it to lamez cos many psych drugs and anti-convulsants( which lamez is) cause mental sluggishness, memory problems etc. I continued to have these problems till I reached 200 mg, which was around October. I was really fed up and wanted to discontinue Lamez. But I persisted out of hope cos nothing else sounded like a better option. Three months after that around Jan 2013 I started feeling improvement in my mood. It was'nt like feeling normal. It felt like less depressed. I still had lack of interest in pleasureable activity. But as my mood improved, my fatigue etc and memory and attention problems also improved. I have been on 200 mg since then. Today I fell like my depression is somewhat controlled. Like I am not suicidal. But I am not happy either. But when I wake up in the morning I feel only a little bit of bodyache. My memory and cognition problems are still there. But I feel both are cos of the disease process rather that the med.

HOWEVER, IN BETWEEN I HAD INCREASED MY DOSE AROUNF 250-300. AT THAT TIME I DID NOT FEEL BETTER. BUT MY BODYACHE AND FATIGUE RETURNED. MY DOC TOLD ME TO COME BACK TO 200. MY EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN THAT GOING BEYOND 200 DOES NOT HELP MUCH. AND DOSES BEYOND 200 DID CAUSE THE FATIGUE IN ME.

FROM READING WHAT ALL OF U HAVE WRITTEN, i FEEL THAT THE PROBLEM WITH MOST OF U MUST BE THE DISEASE PROCESS AND DEPRESSION RATHER THAN THE MEDICATION. ALTHOUGH IT IS POSSIBLE WITH LAM COS I EXPERIENCED THAT BEYOND 200MG.

ALSO, NOW I FEEL LIKE I AM 20% OF DEPRESSED THAN WHAT I USED TO BE. I EXPERIENCE THE CONCENTRATION AND MEMORY PROBLEMS. BUT THEY ARE MORE LIKELY COS OF THE CONDITION.COGNITIVE DEFECTS ARE VERY WELL KNOWN WITH BD TYPE ii.

HOPE THIS HELPS.